“What bonds?”
Charles smiled.
“There.”
He pointed at Emily.
“That’s why she ran.”
Emily opened her eyes.
“No.”
Charles laughed.
“That’s why she married you.”
Daniel’s grip tightened around the rifle.
Charles continued.
“Samuel Harrow stole sixty thousand dollars in federal bearer bonds before someone put a bullet through him.”
“That’s a lie,” Emily said.
“Is it?”
Charles looked at Daniel.
“He gave them to his daughter.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“He gave her something better.”
Charles stepped forward.
Daniel raised the rifle.
Charles stopped.
“A map.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
And now Daniel saw something in her expression that frightened him more than Charles ever could.
Recognition.
“Emily?”
Tears appeared again.
“Yes,” she whispered.
The word seemed to fall through him.
Charles grinned.
“There she is.”
Daniel stared at his wife.
“You have a map?”
Emily nodded.
“Where?”
She looked toward the cabin.
Daniel understood immediately.
“In my house?”
“It isn’t what you think.”
Charles laughed.
“Oh, I think it is.”
Daniel’s gaze never left Emily.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know if it was real.”
Charles said, “She knew.”
Emily turned on him.
“I was nineteen!”
“You were clever enough to steal it.”
“I stole it because you were going to kill me!”
Silence.
Even Charles stopped smiling.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
Emily continued, shaking.
“I heard you talking to Rourke. You knew my father had given me something before he died.”
Charles’s face hardened.
“You married me to search through my belongings.”
Emily looked at Daniel.
“He never loved me.”
Daniel saw Charles’s jaw twitch.
“He thought my father had hidden the bonds somewhere west.”
Charles stepped forward.
“They belong to me.”
“They belong to the government.”
“They belonged to Samuel Harrow.”
“And he stole them!”
Charles suddenly pulled a pistol.
Daniel fired.
The rifle blast shattered the night.
Charles spun backward.
Emily screamed.
The pistol fell from his hand.
For half a second Daniel thought Charles was dead.
Then another gunshot came from the darkness.
A bullet struck the barn wall beside Daniel’s head.
“Down!”
Daniel knocked Emily to the ground.
More shadows emerged from behind the corral.
Three men.
Charles had not come alone.
Daniel fired again.
One man fell.
Another shot tore through Daniel’s coat.
He dragged Emily behind a water trough.
“Stay here!”
“No!”
“Emily!”
A bullet struck the trough.
Wood exploded.
Daniel reloaded.
He knew this ranch better than anyone alive.
Every fence post.
Every ditch.
Every shadow.
He fired toward the corral.
A scream followed.
Then hoofbeats thundered from the opposite ridge.
For one hopeful second Daniel thought neighbors had heard the shooting.
Instead, five more riders appeared.
Emily stared.
“Oh God.”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
They were surrounded.
Charles’s voice came from beside the barn.
“You cannot win, Mercer.”
Daniel shouted back, “You first.”
Charles laughed.
“I only want the map.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
“Where is it?”
She hesitated.
“Emily.”
“In the cabin.”
“Where?”
“Inside the lining of my wedding dress.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Of course.
Charles called again.
“Give me the map and I ride away.”
Daniel looked toward the ridge.
Eight men.
Maybe nine.
He had perhaps ten rounds left.
The nearest ranch was nearly four miles away.
No help was coming.
Emily whispered, “Give it to him.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“He’ll kill us anyway.”
She knew he was right.
Charles shouted, “One minute!”
